Friends
Stocks struggled once again as investors continue to be concerned about the path of the Federal Reserve. The final FOMC meeting of the year began today and will conclude tomorrow. After the statement at 1:00 the Fed Chair will hold his usual press conference. A hawkish tone is expected, but it will take some time for market participants to get comfortable with a Fed that has to fight inflation instead of trying to create it.
The market averages were negative from the opening bell with the Nasdaq being the worst hit, at one point down more than 2%. Things did improve a bit in afternoon trading, but suffice it to say the week is off to a difficult start for stocks. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 106 points to close at 35,544. The S&P 500 was down 34 points to finish the day at 4,634. The aforementioned Nasdaq was down 175 points to close at 15,237. Gold was down $16 to trade at $1,771 per ounce, while oil was down $.89 to trade at $70.40 per barrel WTI.
Today’s Producer Price Index revealed that wholesale prices have risen 9.6% year over year. As with the Consumer Price Index number we got last week, these are numbers we haven’t seen in a long time. Let’s see what the Fed Chair has to say tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
